NORTHCOM Headquarters
"Video feed coming in now sir," reported Major Farris. General Calvin Swanwick was in his personal office about to join a teleconference with the White House Situation Room. The president was having a debriefing with nearly everyone who mattered at the upper echelons of the United States government. A single LED screen began playing footage of a live broadcast straight from the conference table containing some of the most important people in the world.
President Richard Sears was fifty years old and yet looked like somehow nearly half that age. It was an asset in his early run in the Senate as voters enjoyed his passion and charisma that almost seemed to keep him young. A former military man himself, he was tasked with one of the most difficult jobs possible. Getting both sides of the political aisle to work together. Given enough time, that task alone will probably give him grey hair.
Sears was seated at the end of the table surrounded by members of his cabinet, his department heads, intelligence chiefs, and members of the Joint Chiefs. Swanwick recognized most of them. Vice President Michael Prescott, Secretary of Defense Henry Blackburn, Secretary of State Lucas Walker, White House Chief of Staff Lindsey Darrow, National Security Advisor Andrew Gates, and Director of National Intelligence Abigail Moss to just name a few.
"Good morning Calvin," greeted Sears.
"Good morning Mr. President," nodded Swanwick.
"You're the last one invited to this party so let's get started. I am getting ten phone calls a minted from governors, senators, the media, and our international allies wanting to know what's we're doing to do with the fallout over this whole mess so I need to give them all answers. How is Metropolis doing?" asked Sears.
Darrow spoke up. "Things had calmed down in the past few days since the attack. Humanitarian efforts are now underway in the city and the National Guard has managed to quell the rioting and looting. Power and water is estimated to be back up and running through the entire city within the next two days," she reported.
"Good and the crash site?" replied Sears. He was referring to the wreckage from a downed Kryptonian ship that crashed in the city. It was probably just a scout ship but its technology alone was centuries if not more so ahead of anything on Earth.
"Cordoned off with heavy security," answered Blackburn. "We still have search teams sweeping the nearby city blocks for any possible wreckage unaccounted for. What few scientists that examined it couldn't make heads or tails of the technology behind it."
"Which brings up another problem. The UN Security Council has been demanding that we allow scientists from other UN members to examine the wreckage," interrupted Walker.
"They have no right to make any demands!" snapped Blackburn. "Those aliens attacked our country and their ship crashed on our soil."
"But the aliens were attempting to terraform the entire planet which to them means that they were at war with every other nation in the world," explained Walker.
"A war they took no part in and suffered no causalities. At least a thousand people are confirmed dead in Metropolis and hundreds more are still missing as well nearly a dozen military personal killed in Smallville," protested Blackburn.
"They're concerned that we'll hoard whatever knowledge we discover for ourselves," said Walker.
"We're the ones who took those Martians down, we get to reap the benefits," replied Blackburn.
"With all due respect sir, technically the one most responsible for stopping the aliens was Superman," Swanwick pointed out. "He was the one who gave up the means to destroy the enemy command ship and protected Colonel Hardy's team during the engagement in Smallville."
"For all we know, he did that to ensure he wouldn't have any competition from the rest of his kind. We've all seen the footage of what they can do," argued Blackburn.
"He willingly surrendered himself when Zod and his forces threatened our planet sir. I may not be comfortable with him out there but I don't believe he is our enemy," Swanwick spoke.
"Well half the press feels the same way as you Calvin. The other half think he's the biggest threat to the planet since the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs," remarked Sears.
"Speaking of threats, what about the prisoner General? The one Miss Lane at the Daily Bugle calls Kara?" asked Gates. Lois Lane's recent article has been giving the administration a major headache. She released all sorts of classified information regarding what Superman did, how he stopped Zod and his forces, and how Kara aided him. She made it clear that both Kryptonians were heroes. Not everyone agreed but it did get national headlines, drawing attention to Kara's imprisonment which the US government hoped to keep secret.
"She's currently incarcerated at the bottom level of Cheyenne Mountain Facility. It was originally headquarters for NORAD but that was later transferred to Peterson Air Force Base. Since then, it's mostly been used as an emergency backup operated by a skeleton crew. Since it was one of the more secured facilities with minimal personal, it was decided it was the best place to hold the prisoner. All personal on site know the risks and have volunteered to be there," explained Swanwick.
"Forgive me General but how on Earth were you able to detain her? I saw footage of her disabling helicopters, fighters, and a gunship without so much as getting a scratch," inquired Walker.
"Kara didn't resist. Believe me gentlemen when I say the only reason she's still in her cell is because she wants to be," answered Swanwick.
"That's…not the answer I was hoping for," admitted Walker. He was nervous and for good reason considering what these Kryptonians were capable of.
"Interrogation sessions so far have been kept to a minimum but the alien has barely spoken a word," explained Moss. As the Director of National Intelligence, the interrogation of the prisoner fell under her oversight but Swanwick wasn't holding his breath on getting any results. Kara was a soldier which meant she was probably trained to resist interrogation and torture. Add to the fact that she was nearly invulnerable, the agents who spoke with her probably seemed like annoying gnats at best. Hard to get answers from someone who wasn't intimidated by you in the slightest.
"Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Constitutional Rights want to know the conditions of her confinement as well as when they can expect a trial date," added Darrow.
"Oh for crying out loud," sighed an irritated Blackburn.
"These are the same bleeding hearts who still cry over Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. No one cares what they think," Prescott scoffed.
"Even if they didn't care, the alien is an enemy combatant and furthermore isn't even human. The rules don't apply to her," argued Blackburn.
"She took great care in preventing any casualties during her engagement in Iowa. Everyone who engaged her suffered minor to no injuries," pointed out Swanwick.
"The same can't be said about the helicopters and aircraft she destroyed," Blackburn retorted.
"Inform these watch groups that the prisoner is being well treated and that there hasn't been any decision regarding a trial or tribunal yet," announced Sears.
"Please tell me you're not actually considering such a circus," Prescott sighed.
"I'm thinking the families of everyone who lost someone in Metropolis will want someone to pay for what happened," Sears replied.
"Mr. President Kara aided Superman in stopping the aliens. The only reason we have her in custody is because she didn't fight back," Swanwick spoke.
"I didn't say there'd be a trial Calvin. I'm just weighing the options," responded Sears.
"What about the third one?" asked Gates.
"Third one?" asked Prescott.
"Several pods launched from the main alien ship just before it was destroyed but only one managed to escape the blast radius unharmed," answered Swanwick. "The alien is encased in some kind of frozen liquid and there doesn't appear to be any mechanism designed to free him that we are aware of. We have it sealed away at a nuclear waste disposal facility in Nevada until we figure out what to do with it."
"If it were up to me I'd either bury it or launch it into outer space," commented Blackburn. "The last thing we need is a third one flying around."
"Actually Mr. Luther would like to personally oversee the examination of the pod," said Sears.
"Luther?" frowned Swanwick.
To say that Lex Luther was a legend was an understatement. The man graduated top of his class at MIT at fifteen then went onto create LexCorp. The company specialized in everything from rocket development, medical research, security software, and countless other products. Its net profit was comparable to the likes of Walmart and Amazon which made Luther one of the richest men in the world. Coincidently he also owned a great deal of stock in both of those companies. Surprisingly, he was not the CEO or Chairman of his own corporation. Apparently he found the boardroom boring and personally invented dozens of the company's most profitable product lines. Yet that seemed never enough for him. Luther always seemed five steps ahead of the industry, creating the next trend that would dominate the tech market.
His intelligence was sought after by several of the past presidential administrations and President Sears made the bold move of nominating him for Science Advisor to the President. It was somewhat of a scandal as Luther was rumored to have secretly financed the president's campaign through various SuperPacs but the nomination passed Congress.
"Mr. President I'm not sure allowing a billionaire with such a…personality should be allowed access to quite possibly one of the most dangerous object on this planet," protested Swanwick.
"Well can you think of anyone better suited for figuring out how these aliens tick?" replied Prescott.
"He does have the necessary security clearance," Moss pointed out.
"If we're going to have any chance against these aliens should they turn hostile, we need to know how to fight them and that requires the best minds we have. Luther is at the top of that list," Sears agreed.
"As if that man's ego wasn't bad enough, now he'll add savior to humanity to his profile," grumbled Walker.
"If that ego gets us what we want then so be it," remarked Sears.
Swanwick couldn't openly disagree with the President now that he's made up his mind but the General had a terrible feeling this was a bad idea.
(Well the DCEU has been disappointing me even more as of late. Henry Cavill is out which means any future Superman movie is dead on arrival but since I wasn't really going to follow the movies after Man of Steel anyways, it doesn't affect this story. It might seem this chapter was a little short but it sets up future chapters specifically my versions of Luther and Doomsday. For those of you wondering how Terrax (aka Doomsday) managed to escape, you'll just have to wait and see.)